Stormy Daniels' book will transform how you see her

Stormy Daniels, the woman who sued President Trump over a hush agreement to keep her silent about their alleged sexual encounter, has written a book about her life which she says will include details of her time with Donald Trump.

Monday, October 15th 2018, 4:15 PM HST

Anushay Hossain -
Stormy Daniels, alleged Trump paramour and adult film star, is now an author and feminist hero who could potentially bring down the Trump presidency. That's just how she wants America to see her with the release of her new book, "Full Disclosure."

At least, that is what she suggests in the prologue, where she talks about how, in the wake of her sex scandal involving President Donald Trump, women constantly come up to her to thank her for standing up to a man they also see as a bully.

While Daniels is very aware of the fact that she should be, in her words, "living in a trailer in Louisiana with six kids and no teeth," she writes movingly about her escape from an abusive childhood and her journey to success in the male-dominated world of pornography as an award-winning actor, director and writer.

With its narrative details, the book manages to do something else that is shocking -- humanize Stormy Daniels, the woman who is so much more than the sex object men in her life have repeatedly tried to reduce her to, both in her personal world and as a public figure.

"The deck has always been stacked against me, but I own my story and the choices I made," Daniels writes.

Reading Daniels' story in her own words, you find yourself charmed by her wit and her stark self-awareness, all of which draws you further into the book. I found myself turning page after page, genuinely intrigued. She wants the reader to know that she is an "underdog" with a story to tell that is, more than anything, true.

Learning about the sexual abuse and neglect she endured as a 9-year-old, being left alone for days on end by her absentee mother with no food, in a house full of rats and roaches, you cannot help but sympathize with Daniels.

Although she finds solace as a little girl in her passion for riding horses, Daniels starts stripping in high school and still manages to graduate with honors while being the editor of her school paper.

It is no secret that people won't be rushing to buy Daniels' book to read about the painful stories of her upbringing but rather to hear the lurid details of being with Donald Trump, and this is something of which Daniels is all too aware. So she does what any good writer does and makes her reader wait a few chapters for the payoff, all the while building suspense.

But of course, "Full Disclosure" is more than just a rags to riches story -- because once it hits the bookshelves, the book could do serious damage to the Trump presidency, or at the very least, remind the American public about the President's potential involvement in a campaign finance scandal in the run-up to the November midterm elections.

And for a presidency mired in questionable behavior, Daniels' book is just the latest in a growing bookshelf of scandalous exposes and tell-alls, such as Bob Woodward's "Fear" and Omarosa Manigault Newman's "Unhinged."

But "Full Disclosure" is different; it sexually humiliates Trump in a way we have not previously seen. When Daniels eventually gets into the salacious bits in her book, she does not disappoint, describing the president of the United States' genitals and sexual performance in graphic detail.

Although it may be the part that draws the most attention, Daniels' lawyer, the media-savvy Michael Avenatti, took to Trump's favorite social media platform, Twitter, to stipulate that the sex was not what is significant about his client's book.

"The most important thing about @stormydaniels book is not the description of her sex with Mr. Trump," Avenatti tweeted. "It is instead her description of her life and role as a modern woman unafraid to speak truth to power."

But for this reader, at least, "Full Disclosure" left its mark. As a parent, I was hit especially hard by Daniels' recollection that she knew, even as a little girl who was repeatedly raped, that grownups are not where you go for protection.

"Besides, in my world, adults were not people who helped you, and when they do get involved they let you down," Daniels writes. She then recounts the story of how, when she tells her mother she had been raped repeatedly by a neighbor, her mom covers up the crime in front of the police. This way, police don't see the state of their rodent-run home, and Stormy doesn't get taken away.

While there is no shortage of heartless and cruel adults in Daniels' story, the ultimate cliffhanger is what impact this latest book will have on the Trump presidency.